Help Zia Overcome Chronic Illness and Surgery

Hello! My name is Zia and I was diagnosed with a spinal condition in March of 2024 called Spondylolisthesis as well as Spondylolysis.

We thought at first that I had broken my pars bone in my L5 Vertebrae causing my spine to slip forward. However, it has come to be known that it was a birth defect and my bone had never been attached in the first place. This means my bone will never heal from it and I need surgery to fix this. The only surgery that can be done is a spinal fusion. I have been in chronic pain everyday for almost 6 months, causing me to lose my job at Panera and not being able to stand for more than 1 hour straight, bend my back backwards at all, legs going weak and losing sensation in parts of my thighs. I have done all conventional treatments which include PT, NSAIDS, TENS machine, working out and gaining strength, and chiropractor.

After I had been diagnosed I had lost my job at Panera as a team lead. At first I was given work restrictions that made me unable to be constantly bending/leaning/lifting any amount of weight over 10 pounds. My manager did not want to accommodate these restrictions even after a letter from Bronson Neuroscience Center was sent. I lost my job in March and had been on unemployment for about 5 months. I have applied for social security disability however in the state of Michigan it takes an average of 205 days to reach a decision. Of course, I will be updating on how that goes and if they accept my claim. (update: they denied my claim lol) It is really hard to work at a place where I need to walk around or stand upright. It is incredibly painful and the pain I experience on a daily basis is about a 6/10. Sometimes it will shoot up to a 8-9/10. Pain medications do not work on me because the issue is my spine moving against each other.

I have met with the great Dr. Fabi of Bronson Neurosurgery as well as his team and Dr. Kilmer of Bronson Neuroscience. They are wonderful doctors and I trust their judgement completely. Having this surgery will put me out until I fully recover which would typically be around 3-6 months post op.

I did end up having my spinal fusion surgery on October 4, and unfortunately, that means I’ll be out of work for awhile as I have been pretty much the whole summer and fall. On top of that, I have rent, car payments and debt that I’m trying to manage but as my unemployment has ended it has been almost virtually impossible and to rely on my parents and brother to cover all of my bills is not something I can do.

I’m reaching out because I could really use some help covering all these expenses while I’m recovering. Your support would go towards:

FOR OVERSEAS USERS: please paypal f&f

ziagonzales14 at gmail

Medical Costs: What my insurance doesn’t cover. (Not sure how much the surgery is, will update when notified)

Living Expenses: Rent, utilities, car payment

Debt: Helping to keep up with what I owe.

Any little bit helps, and if you can’t contribute, sharing this with friends and family would be a tremendous help. I really appreciate all the support and will continue to update weekly.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Zia Gonzales